Benefit Fraud Inspectorate Report: Aberdeen City Council

Lord Hunt of Kings Heath: My honourable friend the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Work and Pensions (James Plaskitt) has made the following Written Ministerial Statement.
	On behalf of my right honourable friend the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, the BFI inspection report on Aberdeen City Council was published today and copies have been placed in the Library.
	In 2004–05, Aberdeen City Council administered some £49 million in housing benefits, about 9 per cent of its gross revenue expenditure. The inspection covered Aberdeen City Council's administration of overpayments.
	The council displayed many strengths including: an excellent quality checking regime; 90 per cent correct classification of overpayments; calculating overpayments correctly, within 14 days; correctly deciding whom overpayments should be recovered from; and a good audit trail.
	More could be done to recover large debts from housing associations and improvements were needed in the control of overpayments work and the council's write-off procedures.
	The council is working with BFI's performance development team to improve its action plan to recover overpayments.
	My right honourable friend the Secretary of State is considering the report and may ask the council for its proposals in response to BFI's findings.

Benefit Fraud Inspectorate Report: Dacorum Borough Council

Lord Hunt of Kings Heath: My honourable friend the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Work and Pensions (James Plaskitt) has made the following Written Ministerial Statement.
	On behalf of my right honourable friend the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, the BFI inspection report on Dacorum Borough Council was published today and copies have been placed in the Library.
	In 2004–05, Dacorum Borough Council administered some £29.5 million in housing benefits, about 24.5 per cent of its gross revenue expenditure.
	In 2004–05 the council was taking an average of 63 days to process new claims for housing benefit and council tax benefit and had significant backlogs of work. The introduction of a new benefits IT system in 2003 and the absence of expert full-time staff had caused problems and the backlogs and underlying reasons for them were never fully addressed. Effective recruitment since late 2004 has led to improvements and the average processing time for new claims was 42 days for the first quarter of 2005–06 and the backlogs are now cleared.
	Good practices included adopting the department's verification framework from April 2005, monitoring workflow, and prioritising changes of circumstances to reduce overpayments. However, processing changes of circumstances deteriorated from an average of 14 days in 2004–05 to 25 days in the first quarter of 2005–06.
	My right honourable friend the Secretary of State is considering the report and may ask the council for proposals in response to BFI's findings.

Benefit Fraud Inspectorate Report: Perth and Kinross Council

Lord Hunt of Kings Heath: My honourable friend the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Work and Pensions (James Plaskitt) has made the following Written Ministerial Statement.
	On behalf of my right honourable friend the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, the BFI inspection report on Perth and Kinross Council was published today and copies have been placed in the Library.
	In 2004–05, Perth and Kinross Council administered some £24 million in housing benefits, about 11.6 per cent of its gross revenue expenditure. The council had made significant improvements in the time taken to process new claims from 71 days in the second quarter of 2004–05 to 48 days by the end of 2004–05. However, this was still within the bottom quartile of performance for all councils.
	Delays were occurring at all stages of the claims process. These were most significant in registering claims, identifying the need for further information and referring appropriate cases to the rent officer within statutory time limits.
	Inaccurate performance was being reported against the statutory performance indicator for the speed of processing changes of circumstances. The council was reporting an average of eight days to process a change yet the findings from a sample of cases showed that it was taking an average of 26.5 days.
	Quality issues were identified in 30 per cent of the cases sampled. Benefit had been paid on incomplete claim forms, incorrect dates had been used resulting in underpayment of benefit, and requests for backdating had been overlooked.
	Inadequate control and poor monitoring of performance meant that members and senior officers had insufficient assurance about true levels of performance. This was compounded by a failure to implement audit recommendations.
	Further assurance and internal security issues were found in the quality of verification, post opening arrangements, recruitment and vetting of benefits staff, procedural guidance and management checking.
	My right honourable friend the Secretary of State is considering the report and may ask the council for proposals in response to BFI's findings.

Benefit Fraud Inspectorate Report: Tandridge District Council

Lord Hunt of Kings Heath: My honourable friend the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Work and Pensions (James Plaskitt) has made the following Written Ministerial Statement.
	On behalf of my right honourable friend the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, the BFI inspection report on Tandridge District Council was published today and copies have been placed in the Library.
	In 2004–05, Tandridge District Council administered some £11 million in housing benefits, about 28 per cent of its gross revenue expenditure. In June 2005, BFI carried out an inspection on Tandridge District Council's administration of overpayments.
	Inspectors found there was a great deal of commitment and professionalism in the council's efforts to administer overpayments, together with a determination to improve performance. Good practices enabled the council to recover 16 per cent of outstanding overpayment debts in the first quarter of 2005–06 alone.
	However, the council did not always use the correct effective date when calculating overpayments, and some claims could have been suspended more promptly to limit overpayments. Decision letters to benefit customers need to be improved, as they did not always indicate when overpayments were recoverable.
	My right honourable friend the Secretary of State is considering the report and may ask the council for its proposals in response to BFI's findings.

Benefit Fraud Inspectorate Report: Wansbeck District Council

Lord Hunt of Kings Heath: My honourable friend the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Work and Pensions (James Plaskitt) has made the following Written Ministerial Statement.
	On behalf of my right honourable friend the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, the BFI inspection report on Wansbeck District Council was published today and copies have been placed in the Library.
	In 2004–05 Wansbeck District Council administered some £15 million in housing benefits, about 49.5 per cent of its gross revenue expenditure. The council's overall performance in administering housing benefit and council tax benefit met minimum requirements.
	Strengths included the speedy processing of new claims and good access for customers at six "Infopoints". Infopoints had been developed through consultation with local communities and were in locations that best supported local people. More training for Infopoint staff was needed to improve their knowledge of housing benefit and council tax benefit procedures so more inquiries could be answered at the first point of contact and to ensure that claim forms had been correctly completed.
	There were shortcomings in other key areas. The verification framework had not been fully introduced; there was little effective use of management information and limited management control of counter-fraud investigation activity. There were significant delays in the identification and processing of requests for reconsideration and appeals. These need to be better monitored and controlled.
	Communication with landlords was ineffective. There was no liaison forum and landlords had not been informed of legislative changes.
	Counter-fraud investigations had not always been carried out in accordance with legislation or departmental guidance. An IT system has been used since April 2004 to help with the classification and recovery of overpayment debt but much old debt remains unrecovered.
	My right honourable friend the Secretary of State is considering the report and may ask the council for proposals in response to BFI's findings.

Benefit Fraud Inspectorate Report: West Dunbartonshire Council

Lord Hunt of Kings Heath: My honourable friend the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Work and Pensions (James Plaskitt) has made the following Written Ministerial Statement.
	On behalf of my right honourable friend the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, the BFI inspection report on West Dunbartonshire Council was published today and copies have been placed in the Library.
	In 2004–05, West Dunbartonshire Council administered some £41 million in housing benefits, about 22 per cent of its gross revenue expenditure. The council was selected for inspection of its counter-fraud arrangements because it reported to the department that it had not achieved any sanctions between April 2003 and March 2005.
	BFI found that the council's overall performance in countering fraud was poor. Although the council had an anti-fraud strategy the management structure of the benefits service did not create a strong counter-fraud environment or focus and there was a lack of management control over the counter-fraud work that was done.
	West Dunbartonshire Council acknowledged its shortcomings in this area and is committed to improving performance, including developing an action plan to address the recommendations made in BFI's report.
	My right honourable friend the Secretary of State is considering the report and may ask the council for its proposals in response to BFI's findings.

Incapacity Benefit: Pathways to Work

Lord Hunt of Kings Heath: My right honourable friend the Minister of State for Employment and Welfare Reform (Margaret Hodge) has made the following Written Ministerial Statement.
	The Pathways to Work model was launched in seven Jobcentre Plus districts in October 2003 and April 2004. These districts were:
	Derbyshire
	Renfrewshire, Inverclyde, Argyle and Bute
	Bridgend, Rhonda, Cynon and Taff
	East Lancashire
	Somerset
	Gateshead and South Tyneside
	Essex
	I would like to update colleagues on the very encouraging results from the pilots and announce implementation dates for the next phases of rollout.
	We are seeing an eight percentage point increase in the number of people coming off incapacity benefit within six months. This remains an early tentative but extremely encouraging finding. The evidence from the Pathways to Work pilots continues to far exceed our expectations. The number of people with a health condition or disability in the seven pilots who have found work now exceeds 17,000. Over 14,000 incapacity benefit customers have voluntarily accessed some element of the choices package to help them move back towards work. This includes 6,660 people who have attended the innovative condition management programme, delivered through our successful partnership with the Department of Health, NHS and primary care trusts.
	Overall, more than 21 per cent of all new customers who have a work focused interview go on to access choices provision. Pathways to Work is making a real difference to the lives of people on incapacity benefit. We are undertaking a rigorous evaluation of the programme and that evaluation will inform our programme.
	In the December 2004 Pre-Budget Report my right honourable friend the Chancellor of the Exchequer announced the expansion of Pathways to Work to an additional 14 Jobcentre Plus districts. These districts serve local authority areas with the highest concentrations of incapacity benefit customers. This will allow us to focus resources on those areas where Pathways to Work will have the greatest impact.
	The expansion will be implemented in three phases from October 2005 through to October 2006.
	I can therefore announce that the first phase of this expansion has today been launched in the following Jobcentre Plus districts:
	Cumbria
	Glasgow
	Lancashire West
	Tees Valley
	The remaining districts to follow next year are:
	From 24 April 2006: Barnsley, Rotherham and Doncaster; City of Sunderland; County Durham; Lanarkshire and East Dunbartonshire; Liverpool and the Wirral; Greater Manchester Central; Swansea Bay and west Wales.
	From 30 October 2006: Eastern Valleys; Greater Mersey; Staffordshire.

Iran

Lord Triesman: On 26 October, President Mahmud Ahmadinejad of Iran addressed a conference in Tehran on "A World Without Zionism". In his speech, he is reported to have called for "Israel to be wiped from the map", and said that "the Islamic world will not let its historic enemy live in its heartland", "the new wave of (attacks) in Palestine will erase this stigma from the Islamic world" and that "anybody who recognises Israel will burn in the fire of the Islamic nation's fury".
	As my right honourable friend the Prime Minister said in his press conference at the European Council at Hampton Court on 27 October, these sentiments are completely unacceptable. I welcome the clear condemnation by the United Nations Security Council on 28 October and the statement by the UN Secretary-General, Kofi Annan, expressing his dismay. They have spoken for the world. Israel is a long-standing member of the United Nations with the same rights and obligations as every other. Under the United Nations charter, Iran, like other members of the organisation, has undertaken to refrain from the threat or use of force against the territorial integrity or political independence of any state.
	Mr Annan has also said he intends to place at the top of his agenda when he visits Iran in the next few weeks the Middle East peace process and the right of all states in the area to live in peace within secure and recognised boundaries free from threats or acts of force. I welcome that.
	At the informal summit of European Union Heads of Government at Hampton Court on 27 October, the presidency issued the following statement.
	"EU leaders meeting at Hampton Court today condemned in the strongest terms the comments in respect of the state of Israel attributed to President Ahmedinejad of Iran. Calls for violence, and for the destruction of any state, are manifestly inconsistent with any claim to be a mature and responsible member of the international community.
	Such comments will cause concern about Iran's role in the region, and its future intentions. The fact that these comments were made on the same day as a horrific attack on Israeli civilians should reinforce the lesson that incitement to violence, and the terrorism that it breeds, are despicable and unacceptable acts. For its part, the EU remains committed to a solution to the Arab-Israeli dispute based on the principle of two states living side-by-side in peace and security. It urges all parties in the region to do their utmost to bring that vision to fulfilment".
	In addition, on 27 October, the Foreign Office summoned the Iranian chargé d'affaires in London on behalf of the European Union to protest at the remarks. Many of our European partners and other countries have done likewise.
	We welcome too the international community's forthright condemnation, and its reaffirmation of the right of Israel to exist. We welcome particularly the statements by officials of the Palestinian Authority and other governments in the region.
	We remain profoundly concerned at Iran's links to groups trying to undermine peace in the Middle East through violence, including Palestinian Islamic Jihad which claimed responsibility for the horrific attack at Hadera in Israel on 26 October. The EU has said that Iran's policies towards the Middle East peace process and terrorism are among the factors it will consider when formulating its policy towards Iran.
	President Ahmadinejad's remarks also underline the imperative for Iran to take steps to address international concerns about the intentions of its nuclear programme, and to provide objective guarantees that that programme is for solely peaceful purposes. We call on Iran to meet urgently and in full the requests of the International Atomic Energy Agency's board of governors, to suspend fully all of its uranium enrichment-related and reprocessing activities, and return to talks with the E3/EU on the basis of the Paris agreement.

Ministry of Defence: Annual Report and Accounts 2004–05

Lord Drayson: My right honourable friend the Secretary of State for Defence (John Reid) has made the following Written Ministerial Statement.
	On 28 October I published the Ministry of Defence's annual report and accounts 2004–05. It combines the department's annual performance report and departmental resource accounts in a single document that provides a comprehensive overview of the MoD's financial and non-financial performance. For the second successive year the Comptroller and Auditor-General has approved the accounts without qualification.
	The report shows that once again the Armed Forces and the Ministry of Defence delivered what they were required and resourced to do during a busy and challenging year. It reflects the broad and diverse range of operations and tasks undertaken during the year, and the Armed Forces and Ministry of Defence's continuing vision of being a force for good in the world. It also details the sizeable progress the Ministry of Defence has made towards achieving the efficiency targets set by Her Majesty's Treasury in the 2002 and 2004 Spending Reviews, and the considerable progress already made in delivering the capabilities and reformed force structure set out in the July 2004 Command Paper Delivering Security in a Changing World: Future Capabilities.
	Copies of the annual report and accounts have been placed in the Library of the House. It is also available online from the department's Internet site at www.mod.uk.

Veterans Agency: Challenge Fund

Lord Drayson: My honourable friend the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Defence (Don Touhig) has made the following Written Ministerial Statement.
	I am pleased to announce the extension of the department's Veterans Challenge Fund. This fund was established on 1 April 2003 for a fixed initial period of three years to provide a mechanism for MoD to pump prime activities which address an identifiable gap in the existing activity or knowledge supporting the Government's veterans programme. Two million pounds was allocated to the fund over the three-year period.
	I am delighted that the challenge fund has been successful in allowing the MoD to wholly or partly fund projects and support partners in a practical way. I am confident that the continuation of the fund, with a present allocation of £750,000 per year, will support a variety of projects that will benefit veterans. Further details on eligibility and the application process can be found at www.veteransagency.mod.uk/pdfolder/vasecpdfs/challenge.pdf.